Generation Why

Here is a little piece I wrote tonight for you all:


Generation "Why" By kdial1


Generation “Y” was first termed in 1993 as children born between 1981-1995. But today I think we can honestly say that generation “Y” is the digital generation. How many times have you been amazed at how fast your children or grandchildren are at processing information? For instance the incredibly fast fingers for text messaging and excellent hand eye coordination as well as being bored with school, seeing it as not much of a challenge but more of something that has to be done if you want a decent job. I myself am part of the “Y” generation, I am 24 years old born on April 6th 1983. Many different claims have been made about the “Y” generation, including calling some of our generation “Indigo Children” which I believe is a wrong misrepresentation. These are my views and opinions as well as facts about our generation “WHY”

Information Age

One of the main contributing factors to our generation “Y” was the information age. Born into this age, generation “Y” had immense power under their fingers compared to Generation “X”. My generation could now pull up information in seconds and it seems my generation is one of the most hungry for information. Growing up with the first personal computer as a “Macintosh or Tandy” the generation also grew with computers. Learning with the information age. This age, along with video games caused our generation to process information very quickly. Take a look at some of my generation playing video games. If you analyze it you will see how incredibly fast our generations hand eye coordination is! It truly is amazing.
This age caused our minds to progress very quickly into processing information in the brain at a much higher rate, so when information in the traditional sense was taught at school there was the feeling that this was not being taught at the same level of stimuli that was needed. Therefore causing boredom in school. To keep the same level of stimuli up after school many resorted to video games or getting on the computer to stimulate their brain.

The workplace

My generation is now entering the workforce and we have grown up questioning everything seeking answers to everything as well as stimuli for the brain. That is why I believe we have such an awesome force of generation “y” on ATS. We want answers to everything cause we are used to having answers just the click of a mouse away. This is causing companies to have to adjust to our style of working. Generation “X” is used to the command and control management. “Do it and do it now” Whereas Generation “Why” is more of the type to speak their mind. Questioning employers and management directly.
A workplace where creativity and open thinking are looked upon as a positive is something that is very appealing to generation “Y”. We are not afraid to challenge the status quo. Simply put our generation is all about change and more change. We believe in our selves so much when we come into a company that we are not afraid to try and change the company.
Countrywide Home loans is one of the biggest recruiters of generation “Y” at least from my experience in Tempe, Arizona. I got to see first hand how great this generation is when they ran work the way they see fit. Making an average of 10K a month for themselves as well as monsterous amounts for countrywide. Many companies have adjusted to my generation already, promoting change and continuous improvement as well as open thinking as well as offering bonuses for these ideas. Unfortunately some companies have not and are still stuck in the rut of the Industrial age command and control management.

Summary

We are here and we are here for change, truth and answers. We are young and smart multitaskers out to make change for the good of ourselves, family and employers.

[edit on 31-12-2007 by kdial1]

[edit on 31-12-2007 by kdial1]

reply to post by kdial1


Thank you for the kind words for people like us I was born in 1982 and I too grew up questioning just about everything. In my family, I was the person everyone went to with computer issues as it was my forte. I would venture a guess that I too have seen this sort of difference in the work world. I used to work in a moving company for a year and a half, the best company I worked for and quite frankly I'm starting to miss it a lot. The company had a number of small programs that would educate us employers on things like accounting so we could see the importance of our work, and find ways to improve it.

Unfortunately though, I moved to GA (so I could be closer to my family) and it doesn't seem to be the same here. Just about every company I've been interviewed for and worked for seem to want the Generation X type of employee. One of the reasons I got fired from one of my previous jobs here in GA was because I was questioning the legallity of certain practices within the company (it didn't matter to them, they had a "quota" to fill) and since I wanted to do things legally, they were not too fond of me. So I was let go. Unfortunately I don't know what to do now short of packing and moving back to IL and re-take my job because it seems that every job I've taken here so far doesn't like the idea of free-thinkers. They'd rather take in illegals crossing the border who won't question and will simply do as their masters tell them. Shame really, that it seems freedom of speech and thought is becoming more and more a commodity here in the ole U S of A